With winter storms still interrupting outdoor play, area high schools are gearing up for their year-ending spring slate of sports. At Point Loma High School, bringing back Pointer softball and baseball alums is the first order of business.

Softball alumni game planned

This year, the girls on head coach Tom Kamfonik’s softball team are jumping aboard, staging their first alumni softball game at Peckham Field on the PLHS campus.

The action is set to begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 23, with Kamfonik introducing members of his 2013 varsity and junior varsity teams and coaching staffs. All participating alumni will have another opportunity to tip their caps to the crowd as they are welcomed.

Varsity assistant coach Steve Vargas will serve as alumni head coach for the event.

Event organizers will be selling Pointer softball merchandise, with food and drinks offered.

While there is sure to be a strong competitive nature to the match, one of the game’s goals is to reunite players from the past and keep them involved in the program.

Alumni wishing to play should contact Vargas at (619) 520-8513, or email pointersoftball@gmail.com.

Baseball alumni game set

Pointer baseball teams have been staging an alumni game for many years, and this year’s event is rapidly approaching on Feb. 16

All alums who donned a Pointer uniform are invited to play, and there is a group of about a dozen who have showed up faithfully for decades to re-live their prep glory days.

Game spokesperson Jim Harvey is directing old-timers to report to David Wells Field (at Dana Middle School) between 11:30 a.m. and noon to stretch muscles and loosen up arms and legs.

The first pitch is set for 1 p.m.

The annual game is one that produces an equal amount of applause for great plays and belly laughs for some of the alumni’s gaffes.

A highlight of some recent games was the appearance of retired major league star Wells to pitch for the graybeards. This year, however, marks Wells’ second season as the team’s pitching coach.

Harvey notes that a post-game celebration for the alumni team will be held at the Reunion Pub on Mendocino Boulevard.

EXTRA INNINGS:

PLHS Baseball Boosters are planning a major fundraiser to salute the 40th anniversary of the 1973 Pointer team that won a CIF Championship. The event is planned for April 26 at the Bali Hai restaurant. In previous years, honorees have included alums Wells and Don Larsen, both of whom went on to pitch perfect games during their major league careers.

Larsen’s perfect game, pitched Oct. 8, 1956 for the Yankees in a World Series game against the Brooklyn Dodgers, remains one of baseball’s greatest accomplishments. Now 83, Larsen is living in Idaho, and said, “I think about it (the perfect game) every day.”